How many people are actually maintenance savvy?

SirDidymus

I speak from just general curiosity and wonder how many people could actually re-build a bike, or have some serious bike mending skills...

I wonder this after i completely messed up a fairly simple job on my mountain bike, replacing cables. I mucked it up in ten minutes, losing bits and forgetting where things go. It honestly took me a good half an hour to find the correct way i had the gear levers the right way on the handlebar.

So how many of you have the tools, simple logic and understanding (that i woefully lack) to mend your bikes? I wish i did, would save me many trips to the LBS.

I also wonder how many people started a job on there bike, then half way through got completely lost at what to actually do, and how too do it.I hope there are more out there, and not just me.

ricardo_smooth

everything but wheel re-builds I will take on

oodboo

ricardo_smooth wrote:

everything but wheel re-builds I will take on

+1, I replace a lot of spokes but wouldn't take on a full (re)build. I've never bled brakes or done any suspension maintenance but with the right tools I'd be happy to give it a go.

ilovedirt

Same as above, pretty much the only thing i can't do is a wheel rebuild. I can true them up (ish) and replace spokes etc though. I'm also crap at bleeding brakes, servicing suspension etc, but I can do it. I'd do everything myself if I had the proper tools. I do most things though. I think it's important to know how your bike works, because if you get in a situation when you're out riding, miles from anything, and something goes wrong, what do you do? Went to Coed y Brenin the other day with the university mtb club, and we had a lad that didn't know how to do up a QR, and another who didn't know what to do when his chain snapped half way through the ride. Good job we had some people there that knew what they were doing...

cooldad

Most jobs are really simple. Stripped my full sus down to a bare frame and a box of bits on the coffee table while watching Sunderland beat Boro (hahahaha Steve 666), took about an hour. Will replace the bearings this weekend, clean everything nicely and put it back together. It's just screwing bits together, like a kit.
Only need basic tools (the whole thing comes apart with three allen keys, plus a BB tool)
Some jobs are a bit trickier - shock and fork service. Never tried to build a new wheel, but trueing is easy enough, if fiddly.
Just get some basic tools, read Parktools website, watch a few Youtube videos and have a go.

d00m

The only way to learn, is to do. And have an assortment of tools

Unless its wheels, suspension, or certain bearing jobs, you can only go so wrong.

SirDidymus

cooldad wrote:

Most jobs are really simple. Stripped my full sus down to a bare frame and a box of bits on the coffee table

:shock: I would of almost certainly lost something in that case. Dropped it in a cup of tea.. or down the sofa. I'm pretty useless at stuff like this. Hell, i even get pretty worked up when i change inner tubes. Those tires can be a pain at times.

VWsurfbum

ricardo_smooth wrote:

everything but wheel re-builds I will take on

This.

I am a qualified vehicle tech, so this stuff is simples!

cooldad

SirDidymus wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Most jobs are really simple. Stripped my full sus down to a bare frame and a box of bits on the coffee table

:shock: I would have almost certainly lost something in that case. Dropped it in a cup of tea.. or down the sofa. I'm pretty useless at stuff like this. Hell, i even get pretty worked up when i change inner tubes. Those tires can be a pain at times.

Been there done that. Hence the box to put all the bits in.

cooldad

Obviously being single helps when you want to work in the lounge.

nicklouse

Not tech SAVVY at all.

Anonymous

I'm not going to claim I'm an expert and wouldn't want to build a bike for someone else for risk of something exploding and getting them killed!

But, I kind of know most of the stuff now, so long as I stick to what I know. e.g. I do mainly SRAM kit because that's what I know and have the tools for.

Wheel building - no, shock servicing I don't know about yet apart from sleeve service on a rear Fox shock (which is simple). Most the rest I can have a bash at.

First time I do something new I take ages as I'm always referring to videos, articles & tutorials on the net, manuals, etc. After that it's easy, especially once I've learnt from the inevitable mistake.

So yes, I'll give a rebuild a go. My C456 was pretty simple.

I tend to think if I can get my head round how it works, then I'd rather DIY than spend money for an LBS to do it and I'm more confident it's done right, or at least done how I think it should be and only I'm to blame if it's wrong . Same approach to cooking. I look at a ready meal and the ingredients and think I can do that, so I give it a go. Usually ends up being a variation on chilli or curry though, whatever the meal. I just like hot food . That or anything is derived from the Boll in Spag Boll as my lessons in cooking came from student days.

SirDidymus

nicklouse wrote:

Not tech SAVVY at all.

Tech savvy, Maintenance savvy, savvy still means to understand alot about something, right?

deadkenny wrote:

Same approach to cooking

I guess i'm at the equivalent of Student Cooking, but in bike form. Just worried I wont cook the chicken enough and everyone gets seriously ill. Or, me ending up in the middle of a field 20 miles from home, after not tightening a nut properly.

benpinnick

I'll happily take on any job, wheel building I just do for fun. I don't need the wheels, I just like building them.

cooldad

Don't get too excited, you need to concentrate on my bearings. If it all works I'll give you and old crappy wheel to play with as a treat.

nicklouse

SirDidymus wrote:

nicklouse wrote:

Not tech SAVVY at all.

Tech savvy, Maintenance savvy, savvy still means to understand alot about something, right?

yep.

diy

I would say I'm fairly maintenance savvy, but that is not to say that I have not spent hours searching the garage floor for bits I've dropped.

The only thing I haven't done is build a wheel. I think I've done everything else.

S-M

I would say above average, but then i spend all day with various hand tools anyway, and spend most weekends preforming TPM maintence on various work related machines, today i will be cleaning one of the robot spray cells at work (for example)

Some people may have a masters degree in some crazy subject, but have no common sense what so ever (like the missus)

Others may have a brain that allows them to take on jobs other people would feint over.

I met a bloke a few weekends ago and we got on about wheel building, he told me he would never try it as he would never trust the finished product, seriously? he would trust a product that some random person made over something he had done himself?

Where is the logic in that ?!?

If you dont know/have a skill, learn it, and then you will know that it is done properly!

rhialto

I do all my own maintenance, repair and upgrades. I admit I am hesitant to hand over my bike to the LBS mechanic. Not that I think he/she isn't competent but that they won't do the job with the same level of care and attention as I will give it.

The biggest change for me was having a space to work in. I once overhauled my wheel hubs in the spare room (cupboard) of my downtown apartment. It was akward at best. Now, I have one end of my garage with a workbench, bikestand and tools positioned in convenient locations. It makes a big difference for me.

Having said that, I have messed up a few jobs pretty nicely. I once tried to replace a bleed screw on the master cylinder of some brakes I had just bled. It was the wrong screw. Being smaller than the hole, it fell into the master cylinder where it got lodged and refused to come out despite hours of coaxing. Goodbye master cylinder. Hello new brakes. Another time, I literally broke out in a sweat thinking I had just permanently damaged my frame during some maintenance job. That's a horrible feeling.

tenfoot

I'm not overly tech savvy but I can do the basics- fettle gears, change brake pads, repair punctures, remove chains, bottom brackets, forks etc.

When I was a kid I used to be more "handy", taking rear cassettes etc off my bmx, but am now out of practice.

However, this year i am determined to take all the best bits off my Scott and Specialized and rebuild the Specialized. So I guess I'm going to have to learn fast. It helps that I have 2 other bikes to ride in the meantime, if I make a mess of it.

Rushmore

I changed my brake pads today.... GO ME!!

supersonic

Most problems stem from compatibility issues. When I worked at Halfords the car mechanics gave me their bikes to fix - they didn't have a clue what was going on with them!

Cheaper bikes are much harder to work on than more expensive ones, often with obscure parts.

Nick Cod

Can do most things if I've got the tools. Build my other halfs Spec P3 from just the frame and bunch of spares from my old Santacruz.

I can tru a wheel but never done a wheel build and don't have the tools to either.

I'd rather be out riding than fixing though

Northwind

You don't need any great understanding, bikes are simple structures held together with allen bolts, I've built more complicated lego. The main thing is just the attention to detail, and the mechanical sympathy to not destroy things, and the basic problem solving ability to figure out what things are doing (and what they should be doing)

supersonic

simple structures held together with allen bolts

Lol, good ones are: working in a bike shop you see all manner of contraptions from the 4 corners of the globe! This is where a good mechanic earns his chips.

Northwind

True dat. But I'm talking here to the folks on the forum who will probably not have one of those. But even with old bikes, BSOs etc, it's still the same principles- work out what does what, work out how it goes together, work out if it's working right.

Richie63

From this


To this

TIP tiewrap one of those bin box onto your bike stand and put all bits in there.
steady away it's all quite simple
results in this



Fun

supersonic

I think we roughly fall int 4 camps:

- those who know jack sh*t
- the have a go home mechanic who will do the brakes and gears, check bolts, can take off a cassette
- the advanced home mechanic is is happy to have a bash at most things
- shop mechanics/pro mechanics who know the insides and outs of many bikes from many eras and have tools to fix them.

nicklouse

And then there are the people who can just look at something and fix it.

supersonic

nicklouse wrote:

And then there are the people who can just look at something and fix it.

I tend to look at most things and they break...

Northwind

Richie63, do you know your top guide is on upside down?